Third-graders enjoy lessons from pumpkin drop

October 26, 2009|By KEN BRADFORD Tribune Staff Writer

PLYMOUTH -- If pumpkins could fly, these should fly. The alternative last week at Jefferson Elementary School was for them to rocket 88 feet straight down onto a paved playground. Their protection? Pieces of this and that pulled together by third-graders. And frankly, truth be told, nearly every youngster there was hoping to hear a splat, not a thud, when the packed pumpkins pounded the pavement. The lesson at Jefferson's second annual pumpkin drop, third-grade teachers said, wasn't really about protecting the pumpkins anyway. "The big lesson here for the third grade is to work together as a team," said teacher Jennifer George. "We don't give the kids instruction on this. They're using their creativity and their imagination, and they should think about the physics of it." There weren't many rules, George said. "We just have to be able to lift it," she said, "and it has to fit inside the bucket." The bucket she was referring to was attached to a snorkel truck from the Plymouth Fire Department. For the second year in a row, firefighter George Cook goosed the truck's bucket up 88 feet, with himself and teachers Aimee Rooney and George inside, and the fun began. One by one, the pumpkins were dropped. Team DJ's was typical of most. Carson Grove, Ian Kviz, Brooklin Thorne and Isaiah Batta had wrapped the pumpkin in plastic, put it in a cardboard box and swaddled it with pillows and bubble wrap. Some teams had garbage bags attached to serve as parachutes. One team simply wrapped its pumpkin in bubble wrap and covered it with newspaper. It dropped from the sky like a Christmas bowling ball. Another team made sure its pumpkin had good company on its journey. Team Adrian placed its pumpkin in a box surrounded by stuffed bears, plush Scooby Doos and maybe a dozen other favorite toys. Some of the teddy bears were taped to the outside of the box. "We thought if it (the box) landed on its sides, the stuffed animals would protect it," said third-grader Gillian Robertson. It wasn't a half-bad idea. But unfortunately, the pumpkin ended up about half-gooey. Once all the boxes were opened, a couple of the pumpkins appeared to have landed unbruised and unbroken. One of those belonged to the team of third-grader Justin Cavinder. He revealed his team's secret weapon -- they had spent time on the Internet looking for ideas. Principal Robert Remenih said the pumpkin drop idea came from the third-grade teachers last year. This year's students couldn't wait to do it. "The kids really get into it," he said. Teacher Geoff Scheetz said the third-graders had just a couple of opportunities to develop ideas and create their capsules. "We told them they could bring in their supplies from home," he said. George said no grades were recorded for the project. "The assessment is right there," she said, pointing to pumpkins. "Did it smash or not?" And Cook, the fire department's education officer, said he has an idea to make the project better next year. He would like to drop one without any protection at all. That would show students what happens when something falls that far. It would make quite a splat.